


Lullaby

by KainichivonDiamond



Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-15
Updated: 2017-01-15
Packaged: 2018-09-17 18:34:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,305
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9337766
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KainichivonDiamond/pseuds/KainichivonDiamond
Summary: The words were quiet, melodic as they echoed from a hall as he passed through one of the corridors. The sound was familiar, both in voice and tone. He followed the song and felt himself being drawn back in time. A small child with horns barely stubs being held in his Tamassran’s lap after a nightmare had scared him from sleep.





	

She was good at sneaking around; he had to give her that. Half of Skyhold was looking for her since she had vanished nearly an hour ago. Most weren’t truly concerned; she had a habit of disappearing on occasion when she needed a breath of fresh air away from everyone. She always turned up in time for the next meeting in the War Room or before needing to take off to some odd corner of the continent. Still, he would often find himself getting agitated when he didn’t know where she was for too long. Drew his mind back to when Haven was buried, when they thought she was buried with it. The prickling sensation that he wouldn’t hear her laugh, see the look on her face when she downed an enemy; almost surprised that her spell had found home, still not used to fighting anything other than wolves or the odd bandits. Wouldn’t get to see where their playful flirting would take them.

She was fine, he knew. But he’d rather see that she was fine.

_“Elgara vallas, da’len_

_Melava somniar_

_Mala taren aravas”_

The words were quiet, melodic as they echoed from a hall as he passed through one of the corridors. The sound was familiar, both in voice and tone. He followed the song and felt himself being drawn back in time. A small child with horns barely stubs being held in his Tamassran’s lap after a nightmare had scared him from sleep.

_“Iras ma ghilas, da’len_

_Ara ma’nedan ashir_

_Dirthara lothelenan’as_

_Ba lemma mala dir”_

There was a child in her lap, a small little girl with a mop of curly black hair and sharp ears poking out of the mess of it. Looked no older than five. Her head rested on the Inquisitor’s shoulder, eyes sleepy as she sucked her thumb and listened to the song. He could see the bridge of her nose, narrow instead of the thicker jut of Levellan’s. Half-breed.

_“Tel’enfenim, da’len_

_Irassal ma ghilas_

_Ma garas mir renan_

_Ara ma’athlan vhenas_

_Ara ma’athlan vhenas”_

The final line of the song, the soft lullaby, was nearly whispered since the girl’s eyes had closed. Jeneska looked up at where he stood in the doorway. She pressed a finger to her lips before standing, still cradling the child delicately to her. He stepped to the side to let her pass, following her silently. She carried the girl back to where they’d put up the children that had either been orphaned or left behind by those that made their way to Skyhold. Most were children of soldiers in their army, but there were still several that’s parents had been civilians lost at Haven.

The girl was passed to one of the women that looked after them, a stoutly former Sister. Bull couldn’t recall her name, just that he liked the way she carried herself. Firm with the children, but never mean. Kind, but not one to coddle. Reminded him so much of his Tama; they were lucky to have her to care for the children. She apologized profusely when the little girl was handed to her; the girl had a tendency to run off it seemed. So small and quiet, she could slip away. Reminded him of someone else.

“Her father was one of the People.” The first words she’d spoken since he found her besides the lullaby were said as they ascended the stairs to her room. Her tone was passive; she was in a mood it seemed. “She pointed to my vallaslin. ‘Like Papa’ she said.” She moved about the room, gathering wood from the corner to begin a fire in the fireplace. “He must have been sent away from his clan, after his affair with a shem. I don’t know if her mother abandoned her with him or died—she doesn’t know who her mother was. But he took her here so she could be safe while he tried to help us.”

“He didn’t make it, did he?” he didn’t really have to ask, her tone said it. Another orphan of this war.

He could see the way she swallowed, hard, and her chest fluttered with a labored breath. “She’s scared. I’ve—she’s been running about Skyhold, looking for him. I found her in the storeroom.” She knelt, placing some papers beneath a gap in the woods. Drawing in a breath, she expelled it slowly onto one of her palms and it ignited. She touched it to the paper so it could begin to consume the wood. “The lullaby…it’s traditional. We sing it to all our children when they can’t sleep for dreams. He would sing it to her.”

He moved, tugging her couch closer to the fire before sitting and beckoning her to him. She sat next to him, putting up no resistance when he tugged her against his side. Her skin was slightly chilled but warming by the second thanks to the fire. "I've never heard you sing before, kadan."

She tucked her feet under herself and rested her head on his chest. One of her hands lifted, fingers toying with the strap of his harness. "I would sing it to the children in our clan. Ones whose parents were away on hunts or had never returned. Back when I was Second. There...wasn't much time for it, after Elris..."

He shushed her and tugged her closer. He remembered the tale of what had happened to the First before her, knew his fate still haunted her even after all these years. Things like that stuck with a person, stained their minds in ways that were nearly impossible to wash away. She'd whispered the story to him in tiny bits and pieces in the dark of his room above the tavern. Intimacy inspired the desire to share secrets, the want to loosen the load on the mind by sharing it. If he was still a Ben-Hassrath he might have sent the knowledge back to them, something to potentially use against the Inquisitor if the Inquisition ever came to blows with the Qunari. He liked to think he wouldn't have but it was hard to know these days. Everything was uncertain now that the Qun was gone. What would have made him a good Qunari and what would make him, like Levellan said, a good _man_ were sometimes vastly different and he was never sure which he should want. The only thing he was ever sure of was that he wanted her.

"We don't have lullabies. Least not ones with words." He gently pulled her into his lap, much like how she'd held the little girl in the storeroom. She rested easily against his chest, head on his collar. He smoothed his hand up her back in soothing motions. “The Tamassrans would hum to us when we’d get scared or just couldn’t sleep.” He could still remember the softness to his Tama’s voice as she hummed and held him, fingers stroking over the stubs of his horns. He hoped Cole was right, that she was happy about him being a Tal’vashoth. The thought of disappointing her even after so many years hurt more than he could admit.

She shifted, pushing herself up to touch her lips to the edge of his jaw. He tilted his head down so he could kiss her, hand not on her back going to rest on her hip. “Would it be…” her voice trailed off as her cheeks darkened, the bright green of her marks standing out even more. "I mean, would you...?"

He tugged her closer, shifting to rest his chin on top of her head. The melody wasn't as comforting, he imagined, as it had been coming from the wrinkled throat of his Tama but she voiced no complaints. Her face nuzzled into his neck as her breathing slowed.


End file.
